


The Dream

by talefeathers



Category: Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: Drabble, Gen, The one where Valentine can see the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 10:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2225289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Valentine has the dream he is five years old.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dream

The first time Valentine has the dream he is five years old.

It is fuzzy and disorienting, and by the time he wakes he doesn’t even remember most of it; he only knows that something important was taken from him and that his heart is racing. He doesn’t hesitate to climb up into Mercutio’s bunk. His brother, without fully waking up, curls an arm around him, and all at once Valentine feels safe. He relaxes, he falls back asleep. He forgets.

 

The second time Valentine has the dream he is ten years old.

It is bright, impossibly bright. Benvolio is there; he’s sweating and dazed and stained with blood. He’s saying something that Valentine can’t understand, something that fills him with an overwhelming loneliness. When he wakes up he is sobbing. The only thing that keeps him from knocking on Mercutio’s door is self-consciousness; they no longer share a room, which means that he is old enough to face his own nightmares. It takes time, but he eventually drifts back to sleep. He forgets.

 

The third time Valentine has the dream he is fifteen years old.

It is the most vivid dream he has ever had. He can feel the sun on his face, can feel Benvolio’s gentle hand on his shoulder, can feel the grass in which they sit. He can see the blood, bright red, smudged onto Benvolio’s torso and arms. He can even smell the bark of the tree that offers them sparse shade. For the first time, he actually hears the words Benvolio says.

_Mercutio is dead._

Valentine screams himself awake, launching himself into a sitting position. Mercutio is beside him in seconds, curling around him like he used to, telling him over and over that it’s okay, it’s okay.

“You were dead!” Valentine chokes, “You were —!”

“I’m here, I’m here.” Mercutio tucks his brother’s head into his shoulder and rubs his back. His voice is a steady murmur. In spite of himself, Valentine begins to relax. “It’s okay, we’re both okay. I’m here. I’ll always be right here.”

 

The fourth time, Valentine is sixteen years old. And it isn’t a dream.


End file.
